Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) Short Interest Down 15.9% in March

Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) saw a large decrease in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 5,147,166 shares, a decrease of 15.9% from the March 15th total of 6,118,063 shares. Currently, 0.1% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 9,042,719 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.6 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BCS shares. Zacks Research cut Barclays from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Tuesday, December 23rd. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Barclays in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane downgraded shares of Barclays from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold”.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Barclays

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Illumine Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Barclays in the third quarter worth $2,195,000. Todd Asset Management LLC grew its position in Barclays by 4.0% in the third quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 3,516,095 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,678,000 after acquiring an additional 134,560 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its position in Barclays by 10.4% in the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 1,830,351 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,833,000 after acquiring an additional 172,944 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its position in Barclays by 226.9% in the third quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 262,678 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,430,000 after acquiring an additional 182,318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC grew its position in Barclays by 39.5% in the third quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 146,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,034,000 after acquiring an additional 41,585 shares in the last quarter. 3.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Barclays Price Performance

NYSE BCS traded up $0.77 on Friday, hitting $24.27. The stock had a trading volume of 9,226,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,032,285. Barclays has a 52-week low of $14.32 and a 52-week high of $27.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.45, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a current ratio of 1.39. The company has a market capitalization of $83.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $23.10 and a 200-day moving average of $23.26.

Barclays (NYSE:BCS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.42 by $0.04. Barclays had a net margin of 21.91% and a return on equity of 8.33%. The business had revenue of $9.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.23 billion. Equities analysts expect that Barclays will post 2 EPS for the current year.

Barclays Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Friday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.3069 per share. This represents a yield of 236.0%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 20th. Barclays’s payout ratio is presently 25.33%.

About Barclays

Barclays PLC (NYSE: BCS) is a British multinational bank and financial services company headquartered in London. The firm provides a broad range of banking and financial products to individual, corporate and institutional customers. Its core activities span retail and business banking, credit cards and payments, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management.

In retail and business banking, Barclays offers deposit accounts, mortgages, personal and business loans, and card services.